Friday, January 22, 2010

TERRORIZED PICNIC

This is an old incident. Somewhere in the late seventies. The place is Kohima,the capital of Nagaland. Myself and one of my best friends (Ajith George) decided to go for a picnic. Just the two of us. We decided to go to a location which neither of us had seen. It was a small clearance in the beginning of a forest area. We brought some chocolates, bread, jam and some snacks. We also took a small kettle and necessary things to make some coffee. We started of around 8am. After walking for almost one hour we reached the location. There was no clear path or route. Being young we enjoyed the adventurous journey. After finding a good spot we sat down and started of with chocolates. The weather was cold and so we decided to make some coffee. We gathered some twigs and lighted a fire. At that point of time a stone whisked past my ears. We looked around but didn't see anyone. Both of us felt some fear. We put the kettle on fire when another stone came flying barely missing my friend's head. Our courage started melting. Suddenly it started raining heavily. We looked around for a few seconds and packed our things in a hurry and started running . It didn't take us much time to reach the main road. That was a time when some terror groups in Nagaland were in action.....of which we were quite unaware. Now, when I read or speak of terrorism this incident always comes into my mind. I sincerely doubt that we must have been near some terrorist hideout or practicing area. If not for our age and the heavy shower I wonder what would have happened. Fear still grips me when I think about the incident.

Quite scary indeed.. it does seem you had a narrow escape from some kind of lurking danger .. One wonders how people live in terrorism/naxalism affected areas.. kudos to their strength and perseverance..stay safe..